Nathaniel Newnham the elder received an anonymous letter demanding eighty-five guineas. Should he fail to convey the money according to instructions, the writer threatened to murder both the merchant and his wife. A second missive, dated the 27th of March, 1729, demanded one hundred guineas and reiterated the threat against husband and wife alike. The parcels were to be directed under the assumed name of John Harrison and left at certain London inns. At the trial, the prosecution maintained that Jepthah Big had devised this extortion and drawn Peter Salter into its execution. He stood indicted under a statute against extortion enacted during the reign of George I.
Salter related how Big had first accosted him in Squirrel Alley, where he was then employed. He invited him first to take a drink at the Ship, an alehouse Salter frequented, and thence brought him to the Sieve, in Little Minories, under the pretext of imparting private business. Big told him he had need of ten or sixteen guineas, by means whereof he might secure sixty more. He explained that his brother was coachman to a timid old gentleman. Big intended to write to him to demand a parcel; Salter was to select an inn where the packet might be received without awakening suspicion.
Big proposed the Shoulder of Mutton, in Billingsgate. A parcel was to be addressed thither to John Harrison. He directed Salter to sit within and watch, and to rejoin him at the King’s Head should anything appear amiss. Salter repaired thither at the appointed hour. A porter presently entered with a note and inquired for the landlord. The host’s son examined the note, made a sign to his father, stepped out, and returned with another man. The porter then received the parcel.
Salter went to inform Big. As they crossed Moorfields, Big expressed his disappointment, remarking that he would have given Salter five guineas had the scheme succeeded. At the Three Tuns, he announced that he would indite another letter, framed in harsher terms, and cause the second parcel to be delivered to the Black Boy, in Goodman’s Fields. This parcel was likewise to be inscribed to John Harrison. Big believed the innkeeper there would entertain no suspicions.
The first parcel contained no money. John Long, a servant in Newnham’s household, deposed that he had received the letter of the 20th of March by the penny post. His master bade him read its contents: it demanded the eighty-five guineas. That very evening, a brown-paper parcel weighing some two pounds was prepared without money and addressed to John Harrison; Long carried it the following morning to the Shoulder of Mutton. Upon receipt of the second letter, another decoy was made ready and brought to the Black Boy. The narrative suggests that Newnham sought to answer the threats whilst affording an opportunity to watch those who might come to claim the money.
On the 1st of April, Big desired Salter to accompany him to the Black Boy to ascertain whether the parcel had arrived. He instructed him to observe whether any snare had been laid. They sat reading the newspaper in the public room; an advertisement therein made mention of the affair, and several persons remarked that no claimant would appear after such a publication. Big departed, directing Salter to meet him at the Rose, near Aldgate.
A porter presently arrived bearing a note. The master of the house, Mr. Whitaker, observed that he would rather the person concerned had come in person, but delivered the parcel nonetheless. A man accosted Whitaker at the door as he was handing the packet to the porter, bidding him deliver it to the addressee. Several persons then left the house and shadowed the porter at a distance from the opposite side of the way. Salter lingered to finish a pint of beer, then joined Big at the Rose, informing him that a company of men was pursuing the delivery.
Following this encounter, the two men went to see Big’s brother, who was employed in Newnham’s service. They dined at a neighbouring alehouse and sent for the coachman. Big asked him whether he thought of quitting his place. The brother replied that he did not: he now understood why his master had grown so testy of late, some “vile rogue” having sent him a letter demanding a great sum of money upon pain of death. Big feigned indignation, remarking that he had heard talk of an advertisement. This dialogue, recounted by Salter, demonstrated that Big was fully apprised of the letters while affecting the air of an outraged bystander.
They read the advertisements at the Sieve, and then repaired to the White Swan, in Goodman’s Fields. Big said he would endeavour to learn when Newnham returned from the country, and would then dispatch a third letter. Salter replied that he was sorry to see him embark upon so perilous a course. Big answered that Salter had nothing to fear, but added: “My life is in your hands,” warning that should he betray the design, he would share the same fate. The threat addressed to the putative accomplice echoed the menace already visited upon Newnham.
The remaining witnesses offered no conclusive identification. At the Bell, in Mincing Lane, one Benger recalled that a man had called for pen and ink, written a note, and inquired for a porter. He had observed him so cursorily that he could not swear Big was the man. Flinder remembered carrying the note, but was equally unable to identify the prisoner as the person who had engaged him. These deficiencies lent extraordinary weight to Salter’s testimony: he alone detailed the recruitment, the instructions for the first deposit, and their movements regarding the second. His was no solitary observation made from afar, but a prolonged sequence of conversations in which he claimed to have borne a part.
At the trial, the two letters were read aloud. The missive demanding the hundred guineas was especially loaded with oaths and imprecations, reiterating the murderous threats against the Newnhams.
Several character witnesses testified to Big’s reputation as a sober, industrious man. The jury, however, returned a verdict of guilty of extortion. He was sentenced to death and hanged at Tyburn on Monday, the 19th of May, 1729. The testimony of his erstwhile associate brought about his condemnation; those who witnessed the penning and carrying of the notes could not swear to his person. The record closes upon the execution of the man whom the jury deemed culpable, without establishing whether the letters were written by his hand, nor recording what subsequently became of Salter.